Weekly Roundup 04/05/24 (WSJ attacks Tether, Chris Waller on Stables, Nic’s fight announced) (EP.516)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode:

  • How risky is Eigenlayer?
  • The SEC is asking for public comment on ETH ETFs
  • Is the US government about to liquidate $2b worth of Silk Road Bitcoin?
  • Goldman wealth management CIO doesn’t like Bitcoin
  • WSJ is back with a Tether hitpiece
  • Fed Governor Chris Waller says crypto is good for the dollar
  • Nic and David Hoffman are fighting at Karate Combat at Consensus

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David Hoffman (Bankless) on Eigenlayer (EP.515)

David Hoffman of Bankless and Bankless Ventures returns to the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • What Bankless Ventures has been focusing on, including Bitcoin Layer Twos.
  • Eigenlayer – what originally attracted David to the project.  
  • The Eigenlayer value chain and the emerging categories of projects building in this ecosystem.
  • Liquid Restaking Tokens, Actively Validated Services and how these primitives work in the Eigenlayer ecosystem.
  • Views on risk management and leverage in the context of Eigenlayer.

To learn more:

 

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DeFi Education Fund and Beba sue the SEC (EP.514)

Miller Whitehouse-Levine and Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund join the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Beba, an American apparel company based in Waco, TX and the DeFi Education fund have filed a complaint against the SEC, challenging the agency’s pattern of regulation via enforcement.
  • The specific’s of Beba’s airdrop campaign.
  • The Debt Box case and the pattern of behavior that the case highlights.
  • The status of Congressional action on market structure, stablecoins and SAB 121.
  • How the DeFi Education Fund prioritizes key initiatives.
  • How to get involved in this case and support the broader mission of the organization.

 

To learn more about the Beba case: https://www.defieducationfund.org/post/it-s-our-time-def-goes-on-offense-against-the-sec

 

To learn more about the DeFi Education Fund: https://www.defieducationfund.org/

 

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Weekly Roundup 03/29/24 (SBF sentenced, Blast and Munchables, the MSTR convergence trade) (EP.513)

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Was SBF’s 25-year sentence too lenient?
  • Beba vs SEC
  • Coinbase motion to dismiss is dismissed
  • Coinbase notches a win vs the SEC over their Wallet product
  • SDNY v Kucoin
  • Ripple vs SEC
  • Will MSTR ever converge to the fair value of their Bitcoin?
  • North Korea allegedly hacks Blast’s Munchables farm
  • How did Blast persuade the hackers to give the money back?
  • What’s going on with ETH blobspace?
  • Bitwise’s ETH vs ETH futs correlation analysis

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Weekly Roundup 03/22/24 (SEC v Debtbox, ETH security drama, Blackrock’s BUIDL token) (EP.512)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

  • Nic’s Columbia scandal
  • Stablecoin growth
  • ETH Foundation subpoena from the SEC
  • ETH ETF prospects
  • Blackrock releases their tokenized Treasury product with Securitize
  • Are private blockchains obsolete?
  • Fidelity amends their ETH ETF prospectus to add staking
  • Japan’s pension fund is learning about Bitcoin
  • More GBTC outflows
  • More bad boys
  • Kyle Davies wants a debate

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Jeff Lunglhofer on Cybersecurity at Coinbase (EP.511)

Jeff Lunglhofer, the Chief Information Security Officer at Coinbase joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • Jeff’s background and what attracted him to joining Coinbase.
  • How Coinbase approaches cybersecurity risk.
  • The impact of the Bitcoin ETF and the custodial business at Coinbase.
  • How users should protect themselves via multi-factor authentication.
  • Phishing and how to protect oneself from this attack vector.
  • Passkeys and how this is improving the log-in flow at Coinbase.
  • How Coinbase uses bug bounty programs.

To learn more about cybersecurity at Coinbase visit coinbase.com/security

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Weekly Roundup 03/15/24 (CSW is not Satoshi, Nigeria v Binance, Traeger and Bitcoin) (EP.510)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of ATHs. In this episode:

  • ETH’s Dencun upgrade goes live
  • Is ETH stuck between two different stakeholder groups?
  • Is Traeger going to hold Bitcoin?
  • Saylor is still buying Bitcoin
  • Nigeria holds two Binance executives for a $10b ransom
  • A UK judge in the COPA case has determined that Craig Wright is not Satoshi
  • Why the COPA v CSW case matters
  • Blackrock will buy Bitcoin ETFs in their global allocation fund
  • Greyscale filed for a low-fee spinoff of GBTC, ticker BTC
  • John Griffin of Griffin and Shams is back with another terrible paper
  • A new paper alleges that crypto finances slavery

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Weekly Roundup 03/08/24 (New ATH, Katie Porter out, ETH Denver reflections) (EP.509)

Nic and Matt return for a week of blockbuster price action and new ATHs. In this episode: 

  • ETF flows recap
  • Warren favorite Katie Porter loses her primary in CA
  • Super Tuesday recap 
  • Are crypto PACs working? 
  • Why the Ohio senate race matters for crypto 
  • State AGs amicus brief in Kraken v SEC
  • The WSJ is accused of defamation in their Tether coverage
  • Were Signature and Silvergate wrongly accused? 
  • Arizona state Senate considers adding Bitcoin to state reserves
  • Saylor buys Bitcoin 
  • SEC comissioners Pierce and Uyeda write an entertaining dissent in the Shapeshift case 
  • Is Prometheum the SEC’s patsy? 
  • Nic reviews ETH Denver
  • How priced in in the Halving? 

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Weekly Roundup 03/01/24 (DOE order stayed, Bitcoin renaissance, SBFs autism plea) (EP.508)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode:

  • Funding rates in crypto
  • Blockbuster ETF flows
  • Bitcoin Renaissance
  • BitVM opening the overton window
  • Remembering PlusToken
  • SBF is “too autistic” to go to jail
  • The 3ac boys have another fake fundraise announcement
  • Genesis reaches a settlement proposal
  • The DOE’s demand for information from miners has been halted for now
  • Should the Bahamas be a state
  • Marathon is launching their own L2

Content mentioned in this episode:

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  • In the Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 248, we provide an overview of the paper—Breaking BFT—and examine the importance of network security

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Guy Young (Ethena) on the Past and Future of Crypto Interest Rates (EP.507)

Guy Young, the founder of Ethena, rejoins the show to give us an update on Ethena and to discuss the nature of crypto interest rates.

In this episode:

  • Reflections on the Ethena launch
  • ETH funding rates versus ETH ETF expectations
  • Funding rates on crypto native exchanges versus CME
  • Why Ethena versus doing the cash and carry trade
  • At what point does Ethena start to drive down funding rates
  • The history of the cash and carry trade in crypto
  • Did yield farming represent a real form of yield?
  • Why is yield farming less viable today?
  • The ultimate convergence between tradfi and crypto yields
  • Where risk premia come from for Ethena versus the risk free rate
  • ETH taking yields and their development
  • Guy’s concerns about Eigenlayer and its effect on DeFi
  • Interactions between real rates and crypto rates
  • Stablecoin supply versus tradfi interest rates
  • Crypto yields versus RWA supply
  • The share of stablecoins that is speculative in nature
  • Guy’s expectations for the medium term future of crypto rates

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Chase Lochmiller (Crusoe) on Powering the AI Revolution (EP.506)

Crusoe CEO and Co-Founder Chase Lochmiller joins us for an episode sharing an update on improving the efficiency of power production with on-site digital infrastructure. In this episode:

  • Solving the broken links between supply (flaring, renewables) and demand for energy (BTC, high performance compute)
  • Engineering a portfolio of applications to pair with different sources of energy
  • Aligning economic incentives with climate solutions
  • New hardware coming online and the impact to AI inference and training
  • Decentralized Airbnb for GPU networks – what works and what doesn’t
  • Halvening impact on BTC Miners
  • Crusoe’s climate impact

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Weekly Roundup 02/23/24 (ECB’s very bad blog, more bad boys, 3ac boys latest) (EP.505)

Nic and Matt are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Wireless outage in the US
  • Russia’s space weapons and Rods from God 
  • Will the market like the cubes once again? 
  • Brink nation farcaster update 
  • Our ETH ETF skepticism
  • Circle leaves Tron
  • Revolving door between SEC and biglaw
  • Whip Emmer’s letter to the OMB
  • The ECB’s very bad, no good Bitcoin blog
  • Reddit hold Bitcoin and ETH 
  • SBF’s photoshoot
  • Latest on the 3AC boys
  • The SEC’s mysterious ETF correlation analysis

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Weekly Roundup 02/16/24 (Treasury rebukes WSJ, BitVM, Ethereum ETF prospects) (EP.504)

Matt and Nic are back with news and deals of the week. In this episode: 

  • On The Brink is now on Farcaster
  • The pitfalls of Web3 social
  • The boys have problem with seed phrases
  • Optimistic rollups on Bitcoin are now possible? 
  • ETF flow updates
  • GBTC and Mt Gox flows 
  • Why the halving may not be bullish
  • SEC vs Debt Box 
  • Why we think an Ethereum ETF is unlikely
  • SAB121 update
  • The Treasury rebukes the WSJ’s story on Hamas’ use of crypto
  • Can John Deaton unseat Elizabeth Warren? 

Sponsor notes:

  • Navigating the Avalanche: An Introduction to the Avalanche Network
  • In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 246, we navigate Avalanche’s role in the digital asset ecosystem

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Weekly Roundup 02/08/24 (OPNX closes, COPA case, more SAB121) (EP503)

Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • OPNX is very sadly shutting down 
  • Is jail good for you? 
  • GBTC outflows are declining
  • Solicited versus unsolicited treatment of ETFs
  • The Bitcoin L2 space is heating up
  • The latest on COPA 
  • We revisit the Satoshi is the NSA conspiracy 
  • SAB121 stuff
  • The DoE’s Bitcoin mining data collection emergency
  • What’s happening with Farcaster? 
  • Brink Nation joins Farcaster 
  • Monero delisted from Binance 
  • Solana outage this week

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Weekly Roundup 02/02/24 (FTX recovery, Bitcoin Season 2, Tether’s Q4) (EP.502)

Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Where is the FTX tungsten cube?
  • FTX will make a 100% recovery for creditors
  • FTX 2.0 is not happening
  • The Genesis Digital Assets mystery
  • Tether’s blockbuster quarter
  • Chris Larsen hacked
  • New legislative developments on SAB121
  • Bitcoin Season 2 is underway
  • The Biden admin is requesting information from Bitcoin miners
  • How anti-AI energy activism is revealing about the decel agenda
  • The CSW v COPA case is nearing trial 
  • We reflect on the terrible CSW era 
  • Elizabeth Warren letter watch 
  • The SEC withdraws their case against DebtBox in shame

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  • Conducting the ETH Census
  • In Coin Metrics State of the Network Issue 244, we highlight the complexities of calculating ETH’s total supply and share our method for arriving at an accurate figure

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Weekly Roundup 01/26/24 (GBTC chaos, BBerg’s stable coverage, Listener questions) (EP.501)

Matt and Nic are back with a celebratory 500th episode. In this episode: 

  • ETFs are off to a rocky launch with the GBTC premium trade closing
  • Bitwise launches real time transparency for their ETF holdings
  • Fraud in the metals market versus Bitcoin
  • The boys confront some fake news
  • Is there light at the end of the tunnel for GBTC redemptions?
  • Nic’s spat with Bloomberg
  • The US is selling $130m of BTC seized from the Silk Road
  • TFL declares bankruptcy
  • The boys learn about a face amount certificate
  • We answer your listener questions 

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Weekly Roundup 01/12/24 (BTC ETFs launch, more ETF, even more ETF) (EP.498)

Matt and Nic are back for a historic week in the history of Bitcoin. In this episode:

  • Spot ETF approved and starts trading
  • Why day 1 flows might disappoint but longer term flows could materialize
  • Day 1 price action review
  • The GBTC conversion effect
  • ETF scoreboard after one day of launch
  • The SEC’s multiple SNAFUS in their ETF launch
  • Gensler’s grudging approval and his questionable logic
  • Commissioner Crenshaw’s dissent
  • Gensler may have made a strategic mistake in his dissent
  • Prospects for an ETH ETF
  • What’s next for the Bloomberg ETF boys
  • Did Bitcoin change tradfi
  • Fidelity is harvesting goodwill
  • ETF fee review

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Weekly Roundup 01/19/24 (ETF winners, Dimon’s Satoshi theory, Lutnick on Tether) (EP.499)

Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: 

  • Our plans for episode 500
  • Jamie Dimon thinks Satoshi might return and vanish the bitcoins or increase the 21m cap 
  • Howard Lutnick goes to bat for Tether 
  • Chevron doctrine is challenged in SCOTUS
  • Dunking on Tether Truthers
  • Coinbase vs SEC resumes 
  • Coinhares acquires Valkyrie
  • The relationship between GBTC and spot BTC
  • BTC ETF rankings after 4 days of trading
  • Coin Center declines to answer Elizabeth Warren
  • Morgan Stanley on stablecoins (and did they plagiarize?)
  • Will restaking cause an ETH fork?

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Zach Abrams (Bridge) on Moving Money (EP.500)

Bridge CEO and Co-Founder Zach Abrams joins us for an episode chronicling the explosion of stablecoin volume and how Bridge is building critical infrastructure. In this episode: 

  • Zach’s origin story and how he arrived at building Bridge
  • Bridge’s core products today and how clients use their APIs
  • Future issuance of stablecoins
  • Key global use cases for stablecoins today
  • Evolution of the stablecoin market
  • Building a crypto company in a bear market

Learn more about Bridge

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Ryan Selkis (Messari) on Crypto Theses for 2024 (EP.491)

Ryan Selkis, the co-founder and CEO of Messari joins the show. In this episode we discuss:

  • The regulatory landscape and how the industry should be prioritizing policy initiatives.
  • Grayscale, GBTC and the evolution of exchange traded products.
  • The institutional market and the impact of a Bitcoin ETF.
  • The many failures of the SEC with regards to crypto policy in the USA.
  • Messari’s roadmap in 2024

To learn more visit messari.io and download the Crypto Theses 2024 report. Follow Ryan on X.

 

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